A free association of independent nations formerly subject to British imperial government, and maintaining friendly and practical links with the UK, whose total population comprises 30 per cent of the human race. In 1931 the Statute of Westminster established the British Commonwealth of Nations; the adjective British was deleted after World War 2. Most of the states granted independence, beginning with India in 1947, chose to be members of the Commonwealth. There are annual meetings between finance ministers, and biannual meetings between Commonwealth heads of government, as well as various committees concerned with education, agriculture, and science. Burma resigned from the association in 1947, Ireland in 1948, South Africa in 1961, Pakistan in 1972, and Fiji in 1987; Pakistan re-entered in 1989, South Africa in 1994, and Fiji in 1997; Nigeria was suspended in 1995 and re-admitted in 1999; Pakistan was suspended in 1999, and re-admitted 2004; Mozambique, although not formally part of the British Empire, was admitted as a member in 1995. Zimbabwe was suspended for a year in March 2002, and withdrew after the 2003 conference reaffirmed its suspension. There were 53 members at the start of 2006.
Thus commonwealth originally meant a state governed for the common good as opposed to an authoritarian state governed for the benefit of a given class of owners.The type of community indicated by the term commonwealth varies.
International or Multinational
Commonwealth of Nations
When capitalised, "Commonwealth" normally refers to the 53 member Commonwealth of Nations—formerly the "British Commonwealth"—a loose confederation of nations formerly members of the British Empire (with one exception: Mozambique). The Commonwealth's membership includes both republics and monarchies and the (appointed, not hereditary) head of the Commonwealth of Nations is Queen Elizabeth II. The Commonwealth of Nations is sometimes referred as the New Commonwealth in a British context.
Commonwealth of Independent States
The Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS) is a loose alliance or confederation consisting of 12 of the 15 former Soviet Republics.
National
Australia
The term also served when the six Australian colonies federated to form the Commonwealth of Australia in 1901. In an Australian context, the term "Commonwealth" (capitalised) thus refers to the federal government and "Commonwealth of Australia" is the official name of the country.
Bahamas
The Bahamas, a Commonwealth Realm, adopted the official title The Commonwealth of the Bahamas upon independence in 1973.
Countries that formerly used the style Commonwealth
Great Britain
The Commonwealth of England was the official name of the political unit (de facto military rule in the name of parliamentary supremacy) that replaced the kingdoms of Scotland and England (after the English Civil War) under the rule of Oliver Cromwell and his son and successor Richard from 1649 to 1660. The Cromwellian Commonwealth is sometimes referred to as the Old Commonwealth in a British context.
Former Labour MP Tony Benn introduced a Commonwealth of Britain Bill several times which would abolish the monarchy and establish a British republic.
Iceland
Icelandic Commonwealth (Þjóðveldið Íslands) 930-1262.
Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, Commonwealth of Poland
Commonwealth is still an alternative translation of the official name of the Republic of Poland and Lithuania (Rzeczpospolita). In contemporary political doctrine of Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth, "our state is a Republic (Commonwealth) under presidency of the King". The foundation stones of the Commonwealth (also called the Golden Freedoms) used to be
free election of the king Pacta conventa, a binding pledge agreed to by the King on his election rokosz, the right of rebellion against kings who did not rule in accordance with their pledge liberum veto (a later development), the right for a single representative to veto the entire proceedings of the Sejm confederatio (confederation), a military organisation of the citizens for the attainment of common political aims.It is worth noting that "A commonwealth of good counsaile" was the title of the 1607 English translation of the work of Wawrzyniec Grzymała Goślicki "De optimo senatore" that presented to English readers many of the ideas present in the political system of the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth.
Philippines
This was the Commonwealth of the Philippines in free association with the USA between 1935 and 1946.
Subnational
United States
Four states in the United States officially designate themselves "commonwealths": Kentucky, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Virginia.
"Commonwealth" is also used in the U.S. to describe the political relationship between the United States and the overseas unincorporated territories of Puerto Rico and of the Northern Mariana Islands.
User Comments Add a comment…